The Quakers have been in Ireland since the mid-17th century and in their fourth century here they remain strong in spirit and social commitment. Today, around 1,600 Quakers live in Ireland: 500 in Leinster, mostly in Dublin, another 200 in Munster, and about 900 in the North. The only province of Ireland where the Quakers failed to settle was Connacht; they never had a meeting house further west than Moate, Co. Westmeath. Worldwide, there are about a quarter of a million Quakers.

The Quakers began in England in the mid17th century, when a weaver's son, George Fox (1624-1691), objected to the rituals and formality of organised religion. He believed in a simple, straightforward approach to faith, saying that Jesus Christ was the answer to everyone's problems. Fox was a great lover of the Bible and one Dutch historian later said that if every Bible in the world were destroyed, it could be entirely replicated from Fox's memory.

Soon, the Quakers began to thrive, despite persecution. They are members of the Religious Society of Friends, or simply Friends, but they are usually called just Quakers. At first they were derided by many people and called "Quakers" because when some of them spoke, they trembled in the power of the Lord. Friends took this as a compliment and the nickname has stuck for over 300 years. They are a Christian movement without a clergy or liturgy. At their silent meetings, the Clerks are servants of the meeting, not masters. They bear no marks of servility or superiority and don't believe in titles. Even more importantly, they believe in religious and civil liberty and equality for all men and women.

Quakers have always strongly disapproved of ostentatious dress or conduct and dislike elaborate furniture or decor in their homes. Two other very strong tenets of belief remain entrenched up to the present day: they believe in honesty in business and fair treatment of workers, and a refusal to take up arms in any cause, even that of lawful authority. Needless to say their pacifism has often got them into trouble.

In Ireland, they have always had a wonderful spirit of compassion towards those in need and have always promoted good relations with their neighbours. So gentle is their approach that there's one legendary story about a Quaker in olden times whose house was being burgled. He surprised the burglar and said to him:” Friend, I would recommend thee to move quickly as I am about to shoot where thee is standing".

The first Quaker, who arrived in Ireland from the north of England, was William Edmundson. He came to Antrim in 1653 shortly after the movement had been founded. Edmundson quickly moved to Lurgan, Co Armagh, where the following year, the first Quaker meeting house in Ireland was established. Fox himself came to Ireland in 1669.ln Ireland, the newly arrived Quakers often faced persecution, but they persisted and were eventually accepted. One of the best known early Quakers here was William Penn, who came here in 1666 to manage his father's estates in east Cork.

Penn moved on to America, where he founded the state of Pennsylvania in 1681, as a haven for Quakers.Voltaire, the French philosopher, said that the treaty between Penn and the native Indians was the only one in America that was never sworn to and never broken. Over the next century, some 2,000 Irish Quakers emigrated to America, many of them settling in Philadelphia.

The first Quaker missionary, from England, had arrived in America in 1656. In their early years there, they were often persecuted. Massachusetts in particular harried Quakers very severely, so much so that four Quakers were hung on Boston Common. But eventually, the notion of religious freedom was applied to the Quakers in America, who had a powerful impact on America's history. By 1772, American Quakers had freed their slaves, the first Christian group in the country to do so.

In Ireland, the Quakers helped suffering people after of the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. During the 1798 Rising, the Quakers aided people regardless of religious or political affiliation. History records that the day after the Battle of Vinegar Hill near Enniscorthy, the streets of the County Wexford town were full of corpses but the Quakers went to their meeting and on to do their good works.

Their social work was particularly noted during the Great Famine. After the potato crop failed, Quakers quickly organised food supplies for the starving multitudes. They set up soup kitchens in Dublin and Cork and in County Galway, they organised a model farm where efficient crop cultivation was practiced to help people manage their holdings better. The Quakers, even though numerically small even then, gave aid worth £200,000 during the famine, which compared more than favourably with the £10 million given by the British government. All the Quakers' good work during the famine ensured that they emerged free of the opprobrium that tainted other parties, such as the British government.

That social concern has extended down to the present day. Victor Bewley of Bewley's Cafe fame in Dublin was one of the first people to realise the needs of the travelling community and organise practical help for them. In Northern Ireland, during the troubles, Quakers organised support for prisoners' families. In 1980, the Quaker Cottage in west Belfast was opened as a place where voluntary workers in the area could live. They have also worked wherever in the world help is needed. In Ramallah in Palestine, a Quaker school has been in existence for over a century; last December, it was badly damaged by what was described as an accidental Israeli missile attack.

In many other areas of social activity, Quakers have always been prominent. Anna Maria Fisher was born in Limerick and left the Quaker Newtown School in Waterford in 1842, to go and teach in England. Eventually, she and her Irish husband, Thomas Haslam, returned home to Ireland, where they were the pioneers of feminism. They founded the first Irish Society for Women’s' Suffrage, which in its early years, was largely Quaker run.

In Ireland, as well as in England and America, Quaker honesty in business, which meant fair treatment for workers and customers, made a great impact. In England, such noted firms as Cadburys and Rowntrees in the chocolate trade and Barclays and Lloyds in banking had Quaker origins. In America, Quaker Oats has been one of the most popular breakfast cereals for over a century.

In Ireland, Quaker influence in business has been eroded. Jacobs the biscuit makers, which began in Waterford in the early 19th century before moving to Dublin, had Quaker origins but is now owned by the big French company, Danone. The Malcolmsons had extensive shipping and shipbuilding interests in Waterford, as well as a big cotton-processing factory in Portlaw, Co Waterford, but they are all long gone. The Goodbodys in Clara, Co Offaly, were big into flour milling and jute processing.

The Bewleys were very prominent in trade in Dublin. They once owned a shipbuilding firm in Dublin and they even had a shop in Henry Street that sold wine and other alcoholic drinks, very surprising, because Quakers don't approve of drinking. The most famous Bewley firm was the chain of cafes that began in 1840. Only in recent years has it passed into the ownership of the Campbell Catering group. For some years before it was taken over, it had been passed from the Bewley family to a trust, before running into severe financial difficulties. I remember some years ago being told by one of the Bewley's pensioners that she "thanked God every day of her life that she had worked for Bewleys".

That was nothing new. In 1818, a visitor to a Quaker merchant's home in Dublin noted "the impression on my memory of those visits was...that those who lived in the family as apprentices or assistants spoke of the happiness they enjoyed in their employment". Other Quaker owned businesses were equally well known but have long since vanished, such as Pim's department store in South Great George's Street, Dublin. Shackleton's 19th century flour mill near Lucan, Co. Dublin, powered by the River Liffey, was also Quaker owned until recently, but it has now been taken over by Fingal County Council, which intends to conserve it.

There was also a difference between Quakers North and South. Those in the south tended to be in trade, rather than the professions, while in the north, many Quakers were small farmers.

Quakers have also been famous for their educational standards. Some of their schools still remain, such as Newtown School in Waterford and another in the North. The Ballitore school in Co Kildare is today a Quaker museum, but from 1726 to 1847 it was run by four generations of the Shackleton family. Among its scholars who went on to subsequent fame were Cardinal Cullen, Napper Tandy (the United Irishman), and Edmund Burke, the philosopher. The most famous member of the Shackleton family was Sir Ernest Shackleton, the Antarctic explorer.

Hospitals, too, were very much part of Quaker concerns. The old Cork Street Fever Hospital in Dublin was founded by Quakers in the early 19th century and even as late as 1945, most of its board of management was Quaker. What is now the Royal Hospital in Donnybrook, Dublin, was originally a Quaker hospital. Near there, in the beautifully set Swanbrook House, the Quakers have an office and library, although they are due to move out shortly. Another Quaker characteristic is evident here: their meticulous record keeping. No other community group in Ireland has kept better records of its own past and its ancestors.

Quaker worship is very plain, to the extent that they don't even have baptism with water. They say that they don't claim that theirs is the only true path to God, but simply that it is the right one for them. Meetings are held every week in a wide variety of locations throughout Ireland, nearly 30 in all, and visitors are always welcome. The Quakers continue to believe that there is 'that of God' or 'the light of Christ' in everyone. They set great store by honesty, integrity, and simplicity. They have always believed that war is inconsistent with the spirit and teaching of Christ and they try to avoid conflict in their daily lives, working for reconciliation and the relief of suffering. Honesty and peace are still top of their agenda and few religious groups have worked as assiduously over the years to put what they preach into practice.

For more information about the Quakers in Ireland contact: The Religious Society of Friends, Quaker House, Stocking Lane, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16.  Phone:  4956889. E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .